Record waiting lists within our health service are resulting in delays in finding 7 to 10 invasive cancers every day, Denis Naughten TD has told An Taoiseach in the Dáil this afternoon.
Deputy Naughten pointed to several reasons, including the impact of Covid, which have resulted in the record waiting lists across our health service. He went on to say that “all of these delays are leading to cancer being diagnosed at a later stage of the disease, when treatment options are limited, and tragically the prognosis is poor”.
And sadly, Denis Naughten has predicted that things could get much worse as there is a 54-month respiratory waiting list “as the country is about to face a potential avalanche of respiratory cases as a result of long Covid”.
According to research by the Oireachtas Library, which Denis Naughten commissioned, “an estimated 114,500 people, and rising, have ‘long Covid’ in Ireland and it is rapidly becoming a hidden iceberg of long-term chronic illness for our struggling health service”.
He has called on the Taoiseach “to urgently do things differently within our health service if we are to address these appalling waiting lists once and for all”.
While recognising that staff recruitment is a major issue, Denis Naughten also said: “We cannot just magically make staff appear and the Government should sponsor students in training today on the basis that they commit to working within our health service for a period after graduating.”
He also called for an “urgent review of the way our health system works now and see how we can speed it up”.
He pointed out: “For example, we could maximise the use of our existing health infrastructure by extending the operational hours, so we get more scans done on the same machine, including Saturdays and Sundays, as well as using the spare diagnostic capacity in our smaller hospitals.”
Deputy Naughten acknowledged that the Government “will spend €40,000 every minute on our health service, but just throwing money at our waiting lists does not work within our health service; we need to see structural reform”.
“Take the rapid access haematuria clinic; the blood in urine clinic, at Roscommon University Hospital, where 10% of referred patients have been diagnosed with cancer. It treats 70% of patients in one visit and 100% of patients are seen within the 28-day target time for urgent cases. Yet this service has not been rolled out anywhere else,” stated Denis Naughten.
He concluded by stating: “There are many cases of good practice in our health service, but these never get mainstreamed because it clashes with someone else’s agenda and that this has to stop.
“There is something fundamentally wrong when it is easier to spend money on treating patients in private hospitals than to support innovation in public hospitals, which can make a real difference in the long term to our waiting lists.”
ENDS.
Denis Naughten TD
Leaders Questions on hospital waiting lists
15th February 2022
Check against delivery
First Intervention:
Taoiseach as I stand here, people have been waiting three and a half years in acute pain for an orthopedic appointment and a whopping four and a half years for a respiratory appointment.
That’s 54-month respiratory waiting list as we are about to face a potential avalanche of respiratory cases as a result of long Covid.
According to research by the Oireachtas Library, which I commissioned, an estimated 114,500 people, and rising, have ‘long Covid’ in Ireland and it is rapidly becoming a hidden iceberg of long-term chronic illness for our struggling health service
In December a Royal College of Physicians of Ireland analysis of the shortfall in cancer diagnoses equates to a delayed diagnosis for invasive cancers of between 7 and 10 every day in 2020 alone. That’s someone’s mother, father, wife, husband, sister, brother, daughter, or son.
Last year, while still dealing with covid, the HSE also had to grabble with the cyberattack.
On top of that GP attendances are also down significantly due to a mixture of reasons including:
-cost,
– private patients being unable to access any GP,
-and those lucky to have a GP, finding it difficult to get appointments.
All of these delays are leading to cancer being diagnosed at a later stage of the disease, when treatment options are limited, and tragically the prognosis is poor.
In England where similar figures were reported, it has been estimated that the health system will need to be working at 130% of current capacity over a significant period to clear the backlogs.
Sadly, the ask will be considerably greater here because we already had a health system buckling under record waiting lists before the pandemic.
Taoiseach, we urgently need to do things differently if we are to address these appalling waiting lists once and for all.
There is no doubt that recruitment of staff is key.
But we have already seen from the Department of Health disclosure on Sunday, which was subsequently backed up by the HSE Chief Executive, we will be at least 4,500 staff short, in our health service recruitment drive, this year.
Now, I accept that we cannot just magically make staff appear, but we could sponsor students in training today on the basis that they commit to working within our health service for a period after graduating.
Secondly, we need to look at the way our health system works now and see how we can speed it up.
For example, we could maximise the use of our existing health infrastructure by extending the operational hours, so we get more scans done on the same machine, including Saturdays and Sundays, as well as using the spare diagnostic capacity in our smaller hospitals.
Second intervention:
Taoiseach, I’m not disputing that the Government is spending money.
This year we will spend €40,000 every minute on our health service.
But just throwing money at our waiting lists does not work within our health service – We need to see structural reform.
Take the rapid access haematuria clinic: the blood in urine clinic, at Roscommon University Hospital, where 10% of referred patients have been diagnosed with cancer.
It treats 70% of patients in one visit and 100% of patients are seen within the 28-day target time for urgent cases.
Yet this service has not been rolled out anywhere else.
There are many cases of good practice in our health service, but these never get mainstreamed because it clashes with someone else’s agenda – this has to stop
There is something fundamentally wrong when it is easier to spend money on treating patients in private hospitals than to support innovation in public hospitals, which can make a real difference in the long term to our waiting lists.